This thesis investigates how heterosexual men respond to explicit audiovisual sexual content. Given the scarcity of validation studies, and outdated data on how men perceive emotions and sexual cues of opposite sex partners, this research assumes significant importance.
A sample of 50 portuguese heterosexual men was exposed to three sexually explicit films, each featuring the actress displaying engagement, ambiguous, or distress cues. Participants provided data on their emotional and sexual responses, as well as their perceptions of the actress's arousal and emotions, her attractiveness, immersion and familiarity with kink practices.
Findings showed that the distress video elicited lower sexual arousal and more negative emotions, including heightened negative affect. Additionally, the actress was perceived with reduced arousal, pleasure, consent and wantness. Finally, also in this condition, they attributed more negative emotions and less happiness to the actress. The opposite was observed for the engagement scene. The ambiguous stimulus was generally perceived as more negative than positive. Lastly, we also explored how some individual differences correlated with participants' emotional and sexual responses, and perceptions.
This study reinforces prior research findings regarding sexual arousal and emotional responses to consensual and non-consensual scenarios, extending this knowledge by providing men's perception of the actress.
Moreover, the findings underscore the complexity of creating genuinely ambiguous sexual content. This knowledge can guide future research in the development of more rigorous experimental methodologies and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of sexual responses to videos
